Suddenly Cancelled Bun-Toons. YAY!

I am of course, speaking of THE ADVENTURES OF METAL-GUY, a back up series from the much beloved “Littlest Sarge” comics of the mid-Sixties, published by Vigilance Comics. Metal-Guy has the distinction of being the fastest cancelled comic series in the history of the medium, cancelled after only six panels, reproduced below. It’s somewhat odd that they published these six panels in the first place, (after pulling the plug so quickly on further adventures with the character), but the comics industry was a frugal place back then, and you printed what you paid for.

Vigilance Comics had a history of being sued, and this strip was no exception. Even though it only lasted six panels, the publisher lost $728,000 dollars in defending themselves from thirty-one separate lawsuits.

A bit of trivia about that page from GREEN LANTERN #54, on which I was editor. In the original art, the refrigerator door was open wider, showing more of the gruesome death of Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend by Major Force.

We were “asked” (can’t remember if it was the Code or the higher ups) to discreetly close it more. I worked with DC’s production department on how much would still get the idea across. I actually prefer the printed version, more Alfred Hitchcockian, allowing Kyle’s reaction to carry the scene’s emotion.

In passing Kyle’s “preserved” g.f.’s name was Alex DeWitt; her last name from on of my fave actresses, Joyce DeWitt.

As my aged, frozen brain thaws, I think I actually drew the new, more subtle, frig door, handle and all, for the GL page correction, informing the artist what was being done. Darryl Banks was (and is) great.

That’s one of those great conversations to have with someone: How much of the severed limbs can we show? How much of the torso? It’s ALWAYS better to hint than to show viscera, as the audience always remembers it as much worse. I hadn’t seen the page in well over a decade when I scanned it to add to my post, and had recalled it as MUCH worse than it was. It did spawn an internet website (women in refrigerators.com) and a controversy for hundreds of pros at every convention for years afterward. Up there with the Black Canary hanging from a chain scene in LONGBOW HUNTERS.
Nice to hear from you, Kevin. It’s been a while.
Ty the Guy